Yep, those are my shoes. They need polish...
Sorry about no Virtual Front Page last night. I was giving blood instead.
I did the Alyx system again, the process in which they draw out TWO pints of blood, take the red cells out of it, and put what’s left back (along with a tad of cool saline, which chills one ever so slightly on a hot day). Nice things about this: The needle is smaller (I don’t know how, since it has two channels, but it is) and therefore less uncomfortable — and you don’t get called to give again for 16 weeks, rather than the usual 8.
It was fine. I’m feeling a tad iron-poor this morning (I can sense that there are fewer things carrying oxygen to my brain, or something), but I think I did sleep a little better last night. And the iron will return.
Anyway, they’re short of all sorts of blood as always, not just my “universal donor” O positive.
So you should give, too. Be like me. ‘Cause I’m such a heckuva guy.
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I give blood, and do the Alyx. Been doing Phoresis since 1984. One thing always p-ssed me off. Why can’t you deduct the value of the blood on your income taxes. I can deduct an old sock, but can’t deduct a vital, life-giving fluid, which has a defined value, since I can go down the street and sell it. And hospitals charge for it. And probably pay the Red Cross for it. Sorry… just a pet peeve.
I gave for years, but the ARC won’t take mine any more because of my potential exposure to Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease from eating beef while I was stationed in Germany in the 70s and 80s.
So far, I’m (mostly) all here.
Yup, Nick–I’m excluded, too, despite the fact that I ate little beef when I lived in England–it was tough and expensive, and, more important–PEOPLE DIE BECAUSE THERE IS INADEQUATE BLOOD DONATED. So why exclude based on an extremely remote possibility, while people die today?
I, too, am unable to donate blood because of a medical condition.
When there’s a blood drive at work, invariably someone will ask, “Did you give blood today?” I can’t say yes, and if I say, “No,” they want to know why. To which I’m compelled to say a polite version of, “None of your damn business, Nosy McHolier-Than-Thou.”
Fortunately, I was recently laid off, so not donating blood is the least of my problems, although I do wish I could contribute to such a worthy endeavor.
I feel your pain, Mutt. I suppose I take excess satisfaction in the fact that I CAN give. With all my little irritating health problems — allergies, asthma and such — there are a lot of routine things that other people take for granted that I can’t do. Like, I don’t know… eat lunch in the cafeteria at school. Or serve in the military.
So it seems to me like a sort of miracle that, with that LONG list of disqualifiers that I have to read and say “no” to each time I go to give (“Have you been paid for sex in the past 12 months?” “In the past 12 months? No.”), I’m cleared for giving blood.
It makes me feel healthy…
Two of the questions that they ask seem like big problems — whether you’ve had tattoos or body piercings recently.
I look around me at this time of year, with everyone in skimpy clothes, and I have to wonder whether ANYBODY under 30 can say “no” to both of those questions?
I asked the technician about that yesterday, and she said they weren’t automatic deal-killers, but they do lead to additional questions about WHERE you got your tattoo and under what conditions you were pierced.
Yeah, but we’re good students, Brad. I worry that I’ll fail the eye exam for glasses. I love it that I go to the dentist and with one exception in the past 40 years, I’ve had nada.
To flunk out before you even get to take the quiz! The shame!
Ditto for me as for people who have lived in Germany. But Brad, I see that your shoes stayed tied, at least for the picture. At least it looks like it.
Quite literally, tjc27, your blood doesn’t qualify for a deduction because it is either a contribution of services which is not deductible or it is a contribution of property of which the basis and holding period are undeterminable.
Good for you who can give and do! And thanks for these posts, Brad. They always remind me that it’s time to give. I have no excuse. Where do y’all go to give in the Midlands?
At the Red Cross facility on Bull St. — right there where Bull turns into 277.
To make an appointment, call 251-6000 and they’ll switch you to the right extension, or call (800) 448-3543.
Wow, google something and, well,
$130-$150 per pint.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117431&page=1